Chloe

USA Road Trip – Day 4 – Final Day in Las Vegas!

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Chloe

After an amazing sleep in the comfiest bed (I swear Vegas hotels all have the best beds and bedding!) We woke up ready to explore more of Vegas, plus the sun was back shining once again, hooray!

We decided to walk to The Bellagio Hotel to check out their buffet breakfast, with a little jay walking along the way oops!

The Bellagio is a stunning hotel, with gorgeous floral displays and grandeur so we were expecting good things from the buffet. Unfortunately this wasn’t quite the case. It is a little old fashioned and even though the food options were good, the quality wasn’t as good as the buffets at The Wynn or Aria. Also the service was pretty slow.

After breakfast Megs and Fraser decided to explore more of the strip, however Matt and I decided to get a cab to downtown Las Vegas as we had never visited before and I really wanted to see the original old school Vegas.

Freemont Street was eerily quiet when we arrived. It was great to see all the original casinos and hotels such as The Golden Nugget and 4 Queens, however it really lacked any atmosphere. I guess it is a place best enjoyed in the evening when it is all lit up and really comes alive.

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We walked around and had a bit of a gamble but it didn’t take too long to explore it all. We wanted to try out the Slotzilla – A zip wire which goes over the casinos but unfortunately it wasn’t open.

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I really do think that we went too early in the day. So we decided to jump in a cab and head to the outlets which we had noticed on our way to downtown. Outlets in America are too good to resist!

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After a little bit of shopping we found Megs and Fraser, as we had booked to do an Escape Room with Countdown Live Escape Games.

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We had the choice of 3 different rooms; one horror, one sci fi and one Sherlock Holmes themed, we decided on the latter. You basically get locked in a themed room and you have 1 hour to look through everything, solve the clues and escape the room. Overall it was a lot of fun, but at times I did get a bit fed up as I found it tricky and not as easy as I thought it would be! However we did end up making it out with 5 minutes to spare!

I have no idea why I look like I’ve just gotten out of bed!!

Afterwards we decided to head back to the strip to watch the Bellagio Fountains hourly show. It’s so clever and mesmerising and I love how they have different displays depending on the song. In 2012 Matt and I stayed at the Bellagio hotel and I loved being able to watch the fountains from our bedroom window.

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After a busy day we decided it was time for a cocktail and a bite to eat, so we popped into PBR Rock Bar and Grill, as we kept passing it and thought it looked like fun. It shows a lot of sport but also plays rock music and has a bucking bronco. We sat in the indoor garden area which has fake grass and picnic benches.

Of course I ordered my usual frozen strawberry daiquiri. Then just look at these fries! Crispy fries topped with oosey cheese, crispy bacon bits and drizzled with buffalo sauce, yum!

After the days adventures we decided to head back to our hotel to get ready for our last evening in Las Vegas.

Megs and Fraser decided to go for a Sushi dinner and they saw Zumanity which is an amazing Cirque Show.

Matt and I had late dinner reservations at TAO restaurant which is located inside The Venetian hotel. The hotel itself is very grand and luxurious and TAO brings Asia to Italy. The atmosphere is great, and with seats opposite the giant Buddha we were in good company. Our waiter was so enthusiastic and helpful and the food was amazing we shared dishes including satay chicken, tempura shrimp and miso glazed seabass.

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After dinner we decided to go for a look around the Venetian and ended up having a little gamble in their casino before calling it a night.

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Vegas once again you were amazing but it was time to begin the road trip…

Love, Chloe xx

USA Road Trip – Day 3 – It’s all about the food!

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Chloe

All completely wiped out from the day & night before, I think we finally surfaced around midday – hungry, hungover and in need of some fresh air.

We took a stroll along the strip from The Aria towards the New York New York Hotel. We were definitely hit with fresh air as it was a lot windier and a bit cooler than the day before.

We had barely got a start on our walk when we stumbled across Double Barrel Road House. Our bellies took over and insisted we check it out as the smell of BBQ sauce couldn’t be resisted.

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Feeling pretty ravenous, myself and Megs decided to go for American BBQ at its finest – pulled pork, crispy fried chicken and lots of french fries. The boys on the other hand ordered salads…with a huge side of nachos! The food was delicious and just what we needed.

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Full of delicious food, we strolled along the front of NYNY and then decided to pop inside to take a look around. Since planning the trip, Megs had said that she really wanted to ride the NYNY roller coaster, so we went up to the arcade area to check it out. Me being the complete child I am (If you have read my honeymoon blogs you will know I’m not the biggest fan of big rides) decided that I would wait with all the bags, while the other 3 rode.

I went for a little stroll and then watched the roller coaster from the outside. It’s pretty cool how it goes through the hotel and then all around the outside of it.

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About half an hour went by and I was back in the arcade area where I said I would meet them but they weren’t there. I thought they would have been off it by that time as the queue wasn’t that big but it turns out the roller coaster had stopped running due to the high winds (it stops quite often because of the winds) so you could either wait for it to start again (no one knew how long this would be) or you could get a refund, which is what the guys did, as they didn’t want to waste all day in a queue for something they may or may not get to ride.

We decided to carry on our walk along the strip to Excalibur Hotel and then crossed over to the shops like M&M World and the Nike Store. The weather was getting colder and windier and there was even rain in the air. I didn’t know that Vegas experienced rain!

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We took cover inside Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile Shops and it would have been rude not to have a look around the shops.

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I also wanted to try the famous Fat Tuesdays frozen cocktails. Everywhere we went I saw people with them and they just looked so delicious and when on holiday you have to indulge with cocktails!

Fat Tuesdays is a simple hole in the wall drinks retailer but they have so many amazing flavours and you can mix and match and get anything from a shot all the way through to a huge super cup. After taking in all the flavours I finally decided on my firm favourite the frozen strawberry daiquiri, in a take away cup so I could enjoy it back in our hotel room, in a bubble bath. Yes seriously!

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We decided to head back to our hotel rooms to warm up and leisurely get ready for the evening ahead, as the weather wasn’t the best and we were pretty tired from the evening before.

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Later on we met Megs and Fraser on the casino floor for a little gamble before dinner. Megs and I were adamant we were going to win the big bucks on the Wheel of Fortune but we never did!

For dinner we had booked a table at Beauty & Essex which is located inside The Cosmopolitan Hotel which is just a quick walk next door from The Aria. Matt and I have visited B&E in New York but never the Vegas one so we were excited to check it out. The decor is amazing, hidden behind a fully functioning antique shop, you would never know that a bar and restaurant sit behind.

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The menu is comprised of lots of sharing dishes so we chose a mixture of things to all try including the grilled cheese dumplings (the most delicious thing ever!) Tomato Tartare, Lobster Tacos and of course we had to finish off with the famous Les NYC doughnuts (insert heart eye emoji here).

We celebrated Megs’ birthday (her actual birthday was a few days before we went away) and it was such a lovely evening. The food and drinks were incredible and I would definitely recommend visiting if you are in Las Vegas or New York. Now if they could just open one in London that would be amazing!

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We popped our heads into the Chandelier Bar, just look at how pretty this is! And then called it a night as we were pretty tired from the full on day before.

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Love, Chloe xx

USA Road Trip – Day 2 – Golf, Goals & Guetta!

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Chloe

Due to jet lag Matt and I were wide awake by 6am so we decided to get up, get dressed and go for a wonder through our hotel. That’s the great thing about Vegas everything is open 24/7.

Megs and Fraser were also up early so we all decided to go for breakfast at The Buffet. It was still pretty early and there only seemed to be a handful of us there, so no need to queue or wait for a table which was great.

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The service was amazing, everyone was super happy and helpful and you barely had to wait for anything. The restaurant itself was very in keeping with the rest of the hotel, super modern, spotless and the food was delicious with so much choice, who knew sushi was so good for breakfast!

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Over plates of pizza, waffles and smoked salmon bagels (seriously who doesn’t love a buffet breakfast!?) we decided on our plan for the day. We had tickets for the Rugby Sevens but agreed we didn’t want to get there until early afternoon.

The boys wanted to try Top Golf but Megs and I didn’t really fancy it, so after breakfast the boys left and Megs and I decided to go back to the hotel. Megs decided to go back to bed but I decided to have a bubble bath. I know I should have been out exploring but sometimes when you have a bath that big you just have to use it.

: The boys had a pretty good view from Top Golf!

: Who doesn’t love a bubble bath?

Around midday the 4 of us made our way to the Sam Boyd stadium which is roughly a 30 minute drive outside of the strip. You honestly feel like you are in the middle of nowhere in the desert but it was quite nice to venture out and visit somewhere new.

: It felt amazing to be wearing shorts and flip flops at the beginning of March!

Friends that had been to Twickenham Sevens (in the UK) kept telling me how much fun it is however as rugby isn’t that big in America (compared to in the UK) I didn’t know what to expect, but the atmosphere when we arrived said it all, everyone was in great spirits, the weather was amazing and everyone just seemed to be having a great time.

I loved how you could just sit wherever you wanted, so we found a spot, grabbed some drinks and enjoyed the afternoon of rugby and sunshine. Things got quite exciting when England beat USA much to the majority of the stadiums upset!

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As the sun began to set it was starting to get quite windy and the temperature was definitely starting to drop. There were still a couple of games to go but as we were all in shorts and T-shirts we decided it was best to head back to the strip, get some dinner and get ready for the night ahead.

We were feeling pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, I guess a mixture of jetlag, booze and sunshine will do that to you and we didn’t have the energy to head out to dinner. So we decided to order room service (delicious fried chicken sandwiches) and took a much needed nap, as we still had a crazy night ahead of us.

By 11pm we were rested, glammed up and ready to head out, as after all it was Saturday night in Vegas! We got a taxi to The Encore Hotel where we had tickets to see David Guetta at XS Nightclub.

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The nightclub was pretty big and split between 2 sections. The indoor club/dance floor and the outside pool area, with the DJ booth positioned between the two. We decided to stay outside, as inside seemed a bit too crammed and full on. Outside was way more relaxed and when do you get to enjoy an outdoor nightclub in the UK? So we thought we would make the most of it.

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We managed to grab a great position around the pool with a couple of sunbeds (which were great for dancing on!) and drinks in hand we danced and sang the night away. Guetta was amazing!

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Finally making our way back to our hotel at around 5am, almost a 24 hour day!

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Love, Chloe x

USA Road Trip – Day 1 – Getting There!

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Chloe

I couldn’t believe that the day had finally arrived to start our 2 week USA Road Trip, along with our friends Megs and Fraser.

The 4 of us had talked about going on a trip together for a while, but then one Sunday afternoon we started joking about how fun it would be to go to the Rugby Sevens in Las Vegas. Well it started off as a joke but then we may have started looking into it in some detail and realised that due to the Sevens being in March (which is very early season for Vegas) the costs weren’t actually that bad. Then the next thing you know we’re looking into a complete West Coast Road Trip and a week later we booked it! Sometimes the most spontaneous trips are the best.

The plan? Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles and finally San Francisco.

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We flew from Gatwick to Las Vegas on a dreary March morning, excited to begin our trip and hopefully enjoy some warmer weather!

Our friend took this photo of our plane taking off as she works at Gatwick!

Surprisingly the 11 hour flight went by really quickly. We ate a lot of food, we chatted about the fun things we had planned and we watched as many films as we possibly could, finally landing at 1pm Vegas time to pure blue skies and beautiful sunshine.

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I love coming into land in Vegas as you get to see the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam and you get a great view of the strip which makes me so excited.

We stayed at the Aria Hotel which is one of the newest hotels on the strip. It sits in the centre opposite The Planet Hollywood Hotel. I had wanted to stay here for a while as it just looked so modern and had a great location and it really didn’t disappoint. On arrival the hotel reception was immaculate, the staff were friendly and check in was a relatively quick process for Vegas standards.

We had 2 standard rooms known as Deluxe King Rooms (they were incredible so don’t be mistaken they will be basic) The receptionist managed to get us rooms next to each other on the 15th floor with a view of Planet Hollywood opposite.

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But enough about the rooms we wanted to get out and explore, so we quickly freshened up and went for a walk in the sunshine along the strip.

Taking in all the new sights we pointed out shops, bars and restaurants we wanted to visit while we were there. Then we decided to find somewhere for cocktails that was still outside and we ended up at Bubba Gumps. To be honest this wouldn’t have been our first choice but it had the perfect location with a balcony terrace overlooking the strip, directly in the sunshine and had tables available. We ordered cocktails in light up glasses (when in Vegas!) and toasted to an amazing 2 weeks ahead.

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We were enjoying our drinks and the view when Matt told us we would have to make our way back to the hotel shortly for the first surprise of the trip – It had been an idea when planning the trip that as there were 4 of us and we were visiting 4 locations (Las Vegas, San Diego, LA & San Francisco) that we should each pick a location out of the hat and then plan something in secret for that place to surprise the others with.

So first up was Matt as he had chosen Las Vegas and he didn’t disappoint with his surprise. We were being collected from our hotel and taken to Las Vegas Strip Terminal ready for a helicopter ride over the strip at night. Excited was an understatement and an amazing way to kick off the first night of the trip!

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I must admit I was a little nervous at first. I’m not scared of flying or of heights but I really don’t like sudden drops and as I was sat next to the door and all I could see was the strip below I did have a little freak out thinking we would drop out of the sky! But after I got over that thought and decided to really take in the view of the strip, it was just incredible. Completely lit up and twinkling all around you, it was just stunning.

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On the ride back to the hotel we all became really tired, I guess jet lag had finally kicked in. So we decided to grab a bite to eat at one of our favourites Blondies and then called it a night ready for tomorrows adventures!

Love, Chloe x

Honeymoon Day 14 – Home Time!

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Chloe

Our final full day of honeymoon and we couldn’t believe how quickly it had all gone, yet it also felt like we had been away months?!

We ate breakfast at Jardin, buttermilk pancakes with mixed berries and maple syrup for myself, lobster eggs Benedict for Matt, the food at Jardin is delicious and then we spent the morning by the pool.

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We fancied doing something a little different with our afternoon. Back in 2012 we did the CSI Crime scene attraction which we found so much fun, so we wanted to try and find something like that again. After flicking through a load of brochures and with the help of Google, we found a few things we liked the look of, but we finally decided to jump in a taxi to The Luxor hotel, as something I have always wanted to do, but never got around to doing, was visit the Titanic Exhibition.

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Neither of us had been inside the Luxor before and it was really unusual and different to the other hotels we had visited. It was nice as it wasn’t too busy and we made our way through the casino floor, up to the entrance of the attraction.

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On arrival you get given a boarding pass with a name of a real person who was on the Titanic. It made me a bit emotional as you realise just how many people were on there and at the end of the experience you find out whether you survived or not.

The exhibition was a really interesting experience and at times I did get a bit freaked out as it really did feel like we were on the ship. The way they have recreated the areas such as the bedrooms and deck felt so real.

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The stories are so sad to read and they have videos and real artefacts and items to look at too. They also have the largest recovered piece of the ship so far on display, which is just incredible to see.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside the exhibition but definitely something a bit interesting and different to do if you fancy getting away from all the casinos, shopping and parties.

After a quick change back at our hotel, we then headed to The Linq which is a new area neither of us had visited before and where we decided to ride the High Roller.

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Very similar to the London Eye, it takes 30 minutes to ride and the highest point is 550ft. We opted for the happy hour ticket, which meant our pod had a bar in the middle of it, so we got free drinks while riding around and our bar lady told us fun facts about Vegas and the High Roller itself.

As we visited at night we got amazing views of the strip and surrounding areas all lit up, which was a lovely experience for our last night of honeymoon.

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As it was our last night, we thought we would go fancy and managed to get a reservation at Nobu for dinner. As always the food was incredible, the black cod especially is our favourite and I had some super tasty passion fruit cocktails too!

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A lovely day and night to end an amazing 2 weeks away with my favourite person ❤

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Love, Chloe xx

Honeymoon Day 13 -A Very Vegas Day!

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Chloe

We grabbed a take away breakfast of croissants and tea, from The Encore Lobby Cafe and made our way to the pool area, where we managed to get the perfect 2 sunbeds which we knew received the sunshine all day. Perks of waking up early for once!

We ended up having yet another lovely lazy day around the pool, drinking cocktails, reading our books, swimming in the warm water. It was so nice knowing that it was constantly sunny and we barely ever saw a cloud in the sky!

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As we had been at the pool since early morning and we were feeling a little peckish, we decided to pop inside for a bite to eat. We just thought we would go to one of the bars on the casino floor for a couple of small sharing plates but look at the size of this feast!

We did a bit more sunbathing and had a little swim to burn off the calories and then decided to get ready early for the evening ahead as Matt had mentioned that he wanted to watch the Packers game.

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As we had enjoyed it so much on our first day and we love the atmosphere of watching American sport at a Sports Bar, we decided we would head back to Blondies for drinks and to watch the game.

This time around the place was packed with people, most of whom were Packers supporters, but we still managed to get a table right in the centre of the action. Bit of a different experience to our first night, but still a lot of fun! We grabbed a couple of drinks and soaked up the excitement. Of course I can’t go a day without buffalo sauce, so we may have ordered some Chicken wings and curly fries to snack on too.

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We couldn’t stay and watch the game all night though, as we had tickets to see Penn and Teller at the Rio Hotel (which is just off the strip) at 9pm.

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Penn and Teller were amazing and I loved that they did old school magic and kept it simple with no big fancy sets and gimmicks. We saw David Copperfield back in 2012 and even though his show was amazing it was a bit too OTT. So it was nice to see amazing magicians keeping it simple. Also loved the amount of audience participation, especially as we had great seats just 10 rows from the front! Would definitely recommend seeing them if you are in Vegas and fancy something a bit different.

: Taking a look at the props before the show began!

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After the show they were meeting fans outside the theatre, so we got pictures with them which was pretty cool and really nice of them to do. They just seemed such genuine down to Earth people and not wrapped up in their celebrity status at all.

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The Rio Hotel was pretty quiet, nothing like the craziness of the hotels on the strip so it was quite nice to have a leisurely wonder around. Which is when we found KISS Crazy golf, which looked too good to miss. So we ended up playing 18 holes, in neon lights while rocking out to KISS songs. It was a lot of fun…even if I was pretty terrible at the golf part!

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We got back to our hotel around midnight and decided to do a bit of gambling before calling it a night. I got very excited when I won $150 on the wheel of fortune, only for the guy next to me to win $4000!! But hey I still won and actually that was the best I did all trip 🙂

: I always ask Zoltar what my future holds 😉

Love, Chloe xx

Honeymoon Day 12 – The Day After The Night Before!

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Chloe

I was slightly fragile when waking up from the night before and decided not to get out of bed until midday!

Why would you ever want to leave this room?

We decided to go to Jardin for brunch which is inside the Encore Hotel next to the pool area. Feeling hungover and hungry, I decided to order a pizza all to myself and it was delicious. I think Matt had a Caesar Salad. We also ordered some sweet potato waffle fries to share, yum! And I got a healthy juice as felt like my body needed a bit of a boost!

: Just a tad hungover!!

We ended up spending the whole afternoon around the pool area which was lovely, as I could just read my book, soak up the sun and then casually cool off in the pool when I needed to. Best cure after a crazy night out! We only decided to head back up to our room when the last of the sunshine was slipping behind the buildings. It was nice to have a super lazy day though.

: I never got tired of seeing this beautiful blue, cloudless sky

I decided to have a bubble bath when we got back to our room, as I felt I needed to warm up after staying at the pool until close. There was even a TV in the bathroom, which was great, as meant I could catch up with all my trashy TV as I soaked, whilst Matt watched sport in the main room ha.

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As we didn’t have anywhere booked for dinner and we didn’t really fancy doing much or getting dressed up, we decided to go for a walk along the strip and see where we ended up.

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Firstly we ventured into Treasure Island Hotel, which is opposite The Wynn, as we wanted to see what it was like, as neither of us had been inside before. Personally it feels quite old fashioned and very old school Vegas compared to the hotel we were staying in, so it wasn’t really our cup of tea. Although they do have a Senor Frogs which I love! 😉

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We then walked further along the strip and popped inside Caesars Palace’s The Forum Shops. A mixture of high street and designer it was nice to have a nose and a little window shop. And then we spotted The Cheesecake Factory (yet another thing the UK doesn’t have, sob!) so thought we would pop in for some dinner.

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Incredibly we only had to wait 5 minutes to be seated. Now to work out what we fancied from the 50 page menu! I exaggerate, but seriously have you seen their menu’s!?

We decided to share dishes knowing how big their portions are. So we went for the crispy Cuban rolls, dynamite shrimp and the Santa Fe salad.

The food was good but we felt the service was a bit rubbish, it was like we were being forgotten about as we were sat right in the corner, but to be honest we didn’t dwell on it as we only wanted a quick meal.

We decided to look around a few more shops after dinner, before walking back to the hotel, to get in bed and eat our Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (my favourite) Bliss!

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: Inside the Nike store

Love, Chloe xx

Honeymoon Day 11 – When in Vegas…

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Chloe

After an almost 12 hour sleep, I clearly needed it! We decided to walk next door to the Wynn for their buffet breakfast. Believe me when I say that there is nothing better than a Vegas buffet breakfast. Last time we visited we fell in love with the Caesars Palace buffet. However as we were in walking distance to the Wynn, we thought we would give theirs a try this time.

There was a small wait for a table, but it didn’t matter as you had a lovely view of the whole restaurant which is beautifully decorated with the biggest floral arrangements I have ever seen, it’s stunning.

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The seating area is spotlessly clean and very open and airy, filled with all these amazing flowers, plus they had TV screens showing adverts of the shows to see and things to do, which I enjoyed.

Now for the main event…the food! I think I went up to the buffet 3 times in the end, as there is just so much choice and I wanted to try it all! It is also really good value for money as it will seriously set you up for the day. I started with some granola, yoghurt and mini pastries, then went onto pizza (who doesn’t love pizza for breakfast!?) and finally I ended on some mini desserts such as strawberry cheesecake and mint choc chip cones, which were just delicious! I really wanted to get an ice cream to take away with me, but I had already eaten way too much so went against the idea. Matt stuck to the more traditional breakfast items like toast, bacon, bagels, salmon etc. There is definitely something for everyone, whatever you fancy!

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Opposite the Wynn and Encore Hotels is the Fashion Show Mall, it’s not overwhelmingly big like some American malls, but has all the shops you could want or need, so we decided to head there after breakfast as we needed to walk off all those treats.

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The mall was pretty quiet when we arrived which was great, as it was like we had the place to ourselves! Matt brought a few more bits in American Eagle while I found a new love with the shop Express, which unfortunately we don’t have in the UK. The sales assistants in Express were so helpful. When they saw me carrying around a few items I wanted to try on they took them from me, set up a changing room ready and still allowed me to go around & look at more clothes, before trying everything on. They even picked a few things they thought I might like and added them to my cubicle too! Take note UK High Streets!

I also fell in love with the shop Hot Topic, where I ended up buying a lot of presents for my sister for her Birthday. We didn’t spend too long shopping though as we wanted to head back to the hotel pool for some sunshine before heading out that evening.

Back at our hotel, we did a quick change and then headed down to find a spot by the pool. It was quite busy but The Encore has a few pools to chose from so you should always be able to find a spot by the one you are after. Whether that’s the Encore Beach Club with it’s famous parties, The European Pool Area with casino tables, hot tubs and stage for live music. Or the smaller pool which we always found ourselves at, as it had the perfect mix of relaxation but you could still hear the music from the other areas so it wasn’t too boring. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the sunshine, enjoying the yummy frozen strawberry daiquiris!

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That evening our hotel concierge had amazingly managed to get us a table at Gordon Ramsay’s Steak Restaurant located inside the Paris Hotel.

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On arrival we spotted the man himself which was really exciting, but we didn’t manage to get a photo with him. We did however get a photo with Chef Christina which if you are a fan of Hell’s Kitchen, like we are was pretty cool. She was so lovely and I think a bit shocked that a British person was asking for her photo!

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The food was absolutely amazing and we were shocked at the large portion sizes considering it’s a fancy place. To start Matt had the Shrimp cocktail, I have never seen shrimp so big they were huge! I went for the pork belly which to be honest could have easily been a main course, but it was super tasty.

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Then for mains Matt had the Wagyu American filet steak which I think is one of the best things he has ever eaten, as he has mentioned it a few times since! I had the fish and chips and was shocked when 2 whole fish arrived, it was delicious but I couldn’t finish it all.

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For dessert I had the sorbet as I fancied something light and refreshing and Matt had the baked Alaska. They brought our desserts out with candles, as a celebration of our honeymoon.

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After dinner we headed over to Omnia nightclub in Caesars Palace to see Calvin Harris’ DJ set. Not your typical honeymoon evening but we had such a fun time and Calvin was amazing.

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The views from the bridge on our walk over to Omnia

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We finally got back to our hotel around 4am and decided to do some gambling, when in ~~Rome~~ Vegas…

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Love, Chloe xx

Honeymoon Day 10 – Unusual Utah & Viva Las Vegas!

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Chloe

A 3am wake up call is never fun but we were both excited for the next adventure and exploring somewhere new.

It was dark driving to the airport, but we managed to drop the hire car off with no issues and made it through security in good time – considering how busy the airport already was, with everyone trying to escape the hurricane. We bought a couple of hot drinks and boarded the plane to Utah, ready for our 6am departure.

It was roughly a 4.5 hour flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, but as we were both pretty tired we decided to try and sleep the best we could and actually the time flew by.

Utah are 2 hours behind Orlando so when we landed we had a couple of hours free before our connection flight to Las Vegas. We found a nice restaurant for breakfast and then had a look in a few of the gift shops.

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The airport was really busy. Clearly a popular connection stop and we were shocked to learn that the temperature was only 3 degrees outside. Crazy when Orlando had been so hot and then Las Vegas would be hot too. By 11am it was time to board our final flight of the day.

The last time Matt and I visited Vegas was in 2012, over Thanksgiving weekend. We met up with a few of Matt’s friends and partied every night, which was a lot of fun but quite crazy. So during our flight Matt asked me how we wanted to do Vegas this time around. Should we relax, go to the spa and try to bring The Bahamas to Vegas? Or should we just embrace Vegas, go with the flow and find some fun things to do to make it memorable?

I think you can guess which option we chose seeing as we started drinking at 11am…

A bit sleepy but a couple of vodka’s soon woke us up!

The views from the plane were stunning and I got a bit snap happy, especially when I spotted the Hoover Dam! But the flight was over so quickly as it was just less than an hour from Utah!

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Salt Lake City, Utah

The Hoover Dam

It was so nice to be greeted with pure blue skies and sunshine and once off the plane we headed straight to The Encore Hotel which is where we would be staying for the next 5 nights.

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As usual, check in in Vegas is always super busy but we were just so happy we were there and couldn’t wait to see our room and go and explore.

The receptionist was very excited that we were on our honeymoon and actually bumped us up to a suite on the 63rd floor, which was just incredible. We had a full view of the strip from our floor to ceiling windows and we could open the curtains from a button by our beds, so we could enjoy that view each morning and night.

The view of the Strip from our room

We quickly freshened up and then headed down the strip to Planet Hollywood Hotel, as we remembered from last time that they had the miracle mile shops and a vast range of bars and restaurants to choose from.

I love the relaxed but party vibe of Vegas, it just makes me so happy. I always feel like you can do whatever you like and no one will mind. It’s most definitely my happy place (this was my 3rd visit and we actually went back again in March of this year as part of our US West Coast Road Trip!)

I always say to Matt if I had to live anywhere else in the World it would be Vegas, but I don’t think that will ever happen!

So amazing all lit up at night!

After a little bit of gambling and window shopping, we ended up in one of my favourite places. Blondies. It’s basically just like Hooters but the girls wear cheer leading outfits and there are way more screens around the place showing all the sports imaginable.

We noticed that they had an all you can drink for $20 offer on and were shocked when the waitress said the drinks included spirits as well as beers. So as Matt wanted to watch the football (American) we decided to find a spot to settle into for the rest of the evening.

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We decided to share the Blondies Sampler which included all of our usual American favourites – chicken tenders, buffalo chicken wings, onion rings and jalapeno poppers with a large basket of curly fries on the side.

In the end a mixture of lack of sleep and booze hit me and I was sound asleep in our huge bed by 9pm!

Love, Chloe xx

Honeymoon Day 9 – Preparing for a Hurricane!

Posted on May 21, 2017 by Chloe

It was nice waking up leisurely, knowing that we had no plans and could just take the day as we pleased. So we had a lazy morning watching TV (mostly sport or keeping track of the hurricane or presidential debates!) whilst enjoying breakfast in our room.

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We couldn’t spend the whole day lazing around inside though and as it was lovely and sunny, we decided to head to the hotel pool area. We found a couple of sunbeds, ordered a few drinks and enjoyed soaking up the sun.

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We spent the afternoon chilling on the comfy sunbeds, relaxing in the Jacuzzi and floating around the huge pool. It was very calm as it was mostly couples with only a handful of children.

As usual though with the Floridian weather grey clouds started making an appearance by late afternoon and as the staff were already trying to pack up as many sunbeds as possible in preparation for the hurricane, we decided to head back to our room and look into options for the evening. With just a quick pit stop along the way for a game of Shuffleboard…

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Walking back to our room, we received a call from Virgin Holidays. They explained that they had tried to book us onto trips to Mexico and LA but neither had worked out with our dates and so the only other option they could offer us, apart from staying in Orlando, was to fly to Las Vegas.

Matt and I love Las Vegas and have been a few times before and even though it wasn’t the relaxing second week we thought we would be having, we just wanted to get away from the bad weather and relax for a few days, without the stress of a looming hurricane! So we told them to go ahead with the new plan and they said they would email us with all the details but that the flight was 6am the next morning!

We got changed and decided to head back to Disney Springs for our last night in Orlando.

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We drove there in a huge storm. It was so bad that we could barely see the road or cars in front of us, which was quite scary, but we made it and decided to go to the House of Blues for an early dinner.

Trying to escape the rain ha!

We’ve been to a few States which have a House of Blues but we had never visited one, so I was excited to check out it’s offerings. I loved the decor and music and we were told that Sum 41 had a concert there that evening if we wanted to get tickets. I was tempted as growing up I loved Sum 41! But looking at the horrific weather and knowing we had to be up at 3am we decided against it!

To start Matt and I shared the Voodoo Shrimp, which was recommended and it was delicious. The shrimp were huge and the flavour was incredible, we both thoroughly enjoyed that dish, although I wasn’t too keen on the cornbread. I’m not a big bread fan anyway but that was just an odd one for me, Matt loved it though. For mains Matt had the tacos and I had the pulled pork sandwich which was yummy but huge and as ever I couldn’t finish it all. I don’t think I finished one meal the whole honeymoon!

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We declined dessert as we were just so stuffed and as the weather had cleared, we walked off dinner by looking in a few shops and visiting the World of Disney one last time!

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